DCFoodie, Jr.
March 06, 2007
Every other week or so, I start a post about Noah's eating habits. Even though I know there is nothing more futile than ranting about a toddler's eating habits. And nothing more boring than reading about a toddler's eating habits.
But surprise! That doesn't stop me! I grab the laptop, my sweet hot purring coping mechanism, and start blamming away on the keyboard because WHY! WON'T! MY! KID! FUCKING! EAT! ANYTHING! GAAARRGH! ANGRY! SMASH!
And then I get to the point where I list the pathetic cluster of foods Noah is currently accepting, and I calm down. Because you know what? It could be a lot worse. I might joke and say that he only eats two foods, but look! There are six or seven things on that list! Toss in a multi-vitamin and it's okay. We're doing okay.
So I wipe the rejected hummus from my brow, delete the entry and go on to face breakfast with a renewed determination and purpose.
Which brings us to today.
WHY!
WON'T!
MY!
KID!
FUCKING!
EAT!
ANYTHING!
(puts head down on laptop keyboaar348ooudfj;asd, weee3o3ps)
You want today's list of Things My Kid Will Eat? Here is the list of Things My Kid Will Eat:
- Cheerios
- Yogurt, but not from a spoon.
- Orange-colored cheddar cheese, but only on Thursdays.
Seriously. That is it. Unless you count our checkbook, half of which he ate today.
Our go-to foods (peanut butter on crackers, hummus, pureed fruits) are currently on the shit list, along with everything that requires a spoon. Put a spoon in front of his mouth and he'll twist his entire head around and weep, for spoooons! No spooooons!
I taught him to use the spoon himself and had great success for about two days, which is when the novelty wore off and he remembered: spoooooons! Haaaaate spoooooooons!
Anything that fails the Squish Test is hurled on the floor without a taste. (That is, anything that "squishes" or "mushes" when you suspiciously press your suspicious thumb into it = DO NOT WANT.) Thus, fruit and vegetables and pasta and bread and rice and meats are all out, and why cheese is often a hit-or-miss proposition.
Actually, Noah's on-and-off relationship with cheese is the first story I'll tell when I get back into therapy, since I think it correlates very closely with the Losing Of My Mind and Why I Think Mid-Day Drinking Is Way Misunderstood.
I bought some cheddar cheese snack sticks at Trader Joe's ages ago -- back when Noah was still eating anything and everything in front of him, and I was Great with Smug, for behold! My child eats Indian food! And falafel! No children's menu chicken fingers for US!** -- and Noah loved them. And all was good. Until I forgot to buy them one week. But I had some string cheese! So I gave him some string cheese.
And lo, Noah hated the string cheese. In fact, he hated it so much that when I tried the cheddar cheese a few days later, he refused to even taste it. For nothing would ever erase the trauma of THAT TIME I FED HIM STRING CHEESE.
I kept trying with the cheese, and finally he started eating it again. And all was good. Until I sent Jason to the grocery store one week. And he came back with a block of cheddar cheese instead of the snack sticks. But there is no difference! Plus it is cheaper! So I gave him some of that cheddar cheese.
Yeah. It was another month before Noah would eat cheese again. I...I don't know either, but I know I sprouted about three wrinkles just typing all that out.
Today I loosened the dog's collar for the third time in a month, since she's on a steady diet of waffles and Goldfish crackers and lentils and chicken and macaroni and peas and carrots and cereal bars and probably horked-up pieces of our checkbook.
We've had a few successes -- milk and yogurt smoothies are a hit, and he not only loves Trader Joe's Green Plant Juice, he loves it enough to let me sneak cartons of Gerber vegetables into it to further boost its veggie power. And...um...one time he ate a bug!
I read Linda's recent Toddler Eating Gaaarrgh Angry Smash post about Riley's habits (macaroni and cheese! what I would GIVE for a child who ate macaroni and cheese! or chicken fingers!**) and Katie suggested frozen vegetables, right from the bag. First I thought: gross. And then I thought: Squish Test! that will pass the Squish Test!
He ate handfuls of frozen corn the first day I gave it to him. Handfuls! And I wept with joy! I called Jason and immediately told him about how brilliant I was: corn! frozen corn! I totally thought that up myself and single-handedly, I have saved our child from rickets. Now please pick up some frozen peas on your way home; the ones in our freezer expired in 2003.
Now he's just shoving the corn and peas up his nose and in his ears.
So my question is: if something sprouts up there, should I just pull it out or use the weed-wacker?
No, haaa, I'm kidding. That is a joke. A very exhausted joke. My real question is...hmm. I don't know. I don't even hope to win this fight, I just want to stop fighting. Since the fighting I've done has just made it so much worse. I've gotten mad, I've stormed out of the room. I've pretended that I don't care either way. I've begged and pleaded and applauded each and every bite.
Basically, this has become a Thing because he senses that it's a Thing and I've made it a Thing. I don't want it to be a Thing anymore.
How do I not make it a Thing?
I feed him all three meals most days and by dinnertime I am fleeing to the computer to ASK THE INTERNET FOR ADVICE. And that's the first sign of total flipping insanity, y'all.
And yet...
Do I keep trying? Do I keep offering new and/or previously rejected foods? Or do I just give him what he'll eat and be done with it? Do I go to every possible length to get a good meal into him or do I just (gulp) toss food down and let him and the hunger pangs sort it out?
Help me, Obi-Wan Internetobi. You're my only hope.
Well, except for my pediatrician. Or maybe a trip to the bookstore. Or even a decent Google search. But after that? Only hope. All the way.
**the Karma! it burrrrrns!
FIRST!!! I'm first!!!!
Now I'm going to go read!
My brother (he was born when I was 17 and lived with me for 4 tiresome years) went through this. Guess what Amy? He'll get hungry and he'll eat. It sounds like a power struggle to me... he's winning. Hee!!! He'll eat. Give him food. He'll eat it when he's ready.
Oh, and when in doubt, but purple food coloring in mashed potatoes! And stick a broccoli forest in it!
Hmmm, maybe most foods seem bland to him after eating the spicy foods earlier? I'm trying to remember, but I think when my girls were little they liked foods with lots of flavor like lasagna and pickles and hot peppers and pizza.
I know this is no help at all, but I wanted to say good luck and also maybe you are right about not making it a Thing.
I am totally with you on this. I have a 2 1/2 year old who will only eat cold pasta. He actually asks for "cold pasta, cold pasta, cold pasta". I tell myself it is okay because I buy the whole wheat kind.
Well... He's eating veggies.
My son eats anything that's brown. Brown toast, brown meat, brown crayon, brown anything. Brown...only brown. Just brown. Tomorrow we'll work on yellow. I'll try the frozen corn. Thanks
Get the book Child of Mine by Satter. It has some really practical advice. One thing that works decently around here (today, anyway) is to put some new things on his plate along with something he'll eat. Then, I make sure I am also eating the new thing. Sometimes he tries and spits it out, and sometimes he likes it one day but not the next. At least its some progress. Hang in there - 2 is a really tough eating age - something about their tastebuds becoming more sensitive. I went through it with my 4-year-old and its just around the corner for my 19-month-old.
crunchy cheetos won't squish. My son is addicted to crunchy cheetos. Also, he is addicted to these things called YoGo's yogurt covered jelly thingies, that don't squish...So anyway I called the doctor once when I thought Brandon had something shoved up his nose, and her advice made me shit myself laughing. Plug one side of his nose and blow in his mouth until you see if anything shoots out. Repeat on the other side. HAAAAAA. The worst part is I tried it. Wasn't pretty. Sooo, I vote Crunchy Cheetos...all the processed goodies will do something to help him stay sustained I'm sure. If you hate the idea of cheetos maybe pretzels or pita chips...those sound sorta healthy or whatever.
I sent you an email, but this is a big enough thing for me that I'm going to post a comment, also... I can't recommend Ellyn Satter's "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" enough:
http://www.amazon.com/Child-Mine-Feeding-Love-Sense/dp/0923521518/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1295496-1469669?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173233589&sr=8-1
To paraphrase her thesis, you, the parent, decides what, when, and where your child eats, and Noah determines whether (or not) he eats, and how much he eats. It will require biting your tongue and sitting on your hands during mealtime, but it really will help.
what about rice? try sticky rice cooker rice. cooked in vegetable broth. that worked for us for a while. my daughter eats NOTHING most of the time. pasta. pb on whole wheat. if i'm lucky. a vegetable. tonite she gnawed on corn on the cob on you know..she LOVES red bell peppers..but only on Sundays.
These posts aren't boring they make me and I am sure other moms feel blessedly normal... I actually know some toddlers who eat so I often feel alone in my food battles.
I have a 1 year old boy and a 3 year old boy both of whom change what they will tolerate/ eat on a daily basis. For a while I would congratulate myself when one ate something only to have it literally thrown at me and the dogs the next day. If it was up to them it would be cookies, toast and yogurt - and chocolate milk - three meals a day.
The 3 year old actually is a very good eater at daycare so the teachers say. So it appears this is a wicked game he reserves just for me.
Anyway I figure I am doing my job if I make the food and serve the food... eventually they will figure out it their job to eat the food. Perhaps I am fooling myself but it is what I cling to stay sane.
I have been going through the same thing with my son since birth (he is now 26 months old). He's never been a fan of nourishing himself. 0I have just learned to relax about it OR YOU WILL GO NUTS. Some days he eats very little, some days he eats more than I do. In the end it all works out. Never stop offering him a healthy variety... old faves and new things. It's tempting to break out the french fries and chicken nuggets out of desperation, but once you go there, it is much harder to go back to peas.
My son went through a similar phase at Noah's age and it was right before he started feeding himself exclusively. As with all phases, it will end. But just when you are getting your sanity back, he'll start another bad eating phase. Sure enough.
Aaaahhh, the joys of having a toddler...
This is what I try to remind myself: they only need a decent meal once every few days or so.
Also, cold cereal will at least stave off starvation for another day, if nothing else.
I say feed him what he'll eat but keep trying to introduce new foods. But what do I know? My Kid is almost 14 and STILL won't eat anything requiring a spoon - soup, cereal, yogurt.
FROZEN PEAS!! My mother fed me frozen peas instead of candy until I went to kindergarten and some teacher fed me M&M's and ruined that. But, I still, to this day, as a 25 year old, love frozen peas. A lovely, healthy snack. But I still love M&Ms too.
I have a son who will be two in a week (how is that possible?) And we went and are going through the same thing.
My ped told me you can expect 3 good meals a week from a toddler. This is what they do.
I really can't tell you to relax, b/c we have the same issues around here. In fact, most days Michael doesn't eat dinner. Tonight he had a melon ball and a cereal bar for dinner. I keep offering foods until he will eat something. I should probably give him one thing and if he doesn't eat it that's it. But I can't do that.
Sorry to make it all about me, but I am so there with you.
(Michael was also a great eater and would eat falafeel and indian food until about 18 months).
oh, and my dog gained 10 pounds in a year.
I have no advice as I am currently in the "hooray, my kid will eat anything phase".
For dinner tonight he ate steamed carrots and our old hard buns that I toasted in an attempt to trick him into thinking they aren't "old", just "toasted".
I'm tricky like that.
Good luck!
I asked my pediatrician some of the same questions. She said "don't worry" and "when she is hungry she will eat, just keep offering healthy foods"
That said I think these will pass the "squish test"
Veggie Booty/Fruit Booty
Frozen Raspberries
Fruitabu (organic fruit rollup)
Can Do Kid Nutrition bars
Quick sum-up:
Present healthy food, pick healthy food off floor, repeat without commenting.
Eventually he'll eat and he will be much healthier in the long run.
My best friend regrets giving in because she now has an eight year old telling HER what is for dinner. (Definitely not the future I wish on you!)
My daughter went through a "nothing with a utensil" phase. And would eat most things that she could eat with her hands. Thats when we started avocado. I literally had to give it to her everyday for about a week before she decided that she loved it. But otherwise i can't help her. My daughter is 22 mos old and changes day to day on everything she likes..The only constants being yogurt (or any dairy), pasta, fruit (all fruit) and trees (broccoli)..oh..and crackers. So good luck!
I am going to be haunting your comments for DAYS because every single thing I said Riley will eat is now on HIS shit list and gaaaargh.
Oh and speaking of gaaaaargh? Please read this comment and join me in a collective ARGH ANGRY SMASH: http://purplefruit.clubmom.com/purple_is_a_fruit/2007/02/acceptable_edib.html#comment-62322782 ("Like... OMG!"
Lots of the above I totally get - mine is 2.5 and we have a lot of the same experiences here. But, I DO let him have pizza and chicken nuggets and french fries - because it's always accompanied by broccoli or green beans or apple slices. Yes, there are days when I think he is going to turn into a goldfish cracker. And I keep remembering that someone (maybe Erma Bombeck) said "Toddlers can survive on two cheerios and their own spit" or words to that effect. I look at W's chunky little legs and pokey-out belly and rounded cheeks, and I just know that he's ok.
Goldfish crackers are food, they are still on the pyramid, albeit in a small space. But they are food.
One thing that works well for me is that I put the veggies out first. While I'm preparing the other food. He almost ALWAYS gets a few bites down. I definitely stick to giving him the foods we are eating, and mealtime is a family time. He wants to do what Daddy does, so it's a great excuse to make my H eat veggies, too. W surprises me sometimes with what he will and won't eat, and he's only good for one meal a day. But like, pizza - we get it with lots of veggies, and dontcha know, he'll eat them! Unreal.
Good luck. You're a great mom. Hang in there.
Everyone is right on the money! Just keep putting a mixture of foods in front of him and he'll eat something. He won't starve himself. He's not old enough to think anorexia is a fashion statement. When my boys were little, I remember putting Hershey's syrup on vegetables to get them to eat something besides cheerios. It all turns out in the end!
Hey, maybe I could even make that a link.
I was there ooooh about 5 years ago. He's six now and eats everything we put in front of him. There was the year of the yogurt, where the only thing (and I'm not kidding here) he ate was yogurt. Not just any yogurt, but YoBaby yogurt. How DARE we try anything else.
Then there was the year of frozen blueberries & mac n cheese. He ate that and nothing else for a year. (and btw, have you tried frozen blueberries? He lived off them. Made his poop blue even. Surprises in the diaper, anything better??)
I gave up on battling him pretty quickly, if only because he's more stubborn than me. His pediatrician told me many times he will eat when he's hungry, and only when he decides he wants to. And I had to give in and believe it because I didn't know what else to do. He ended up being right. I now have a very healthy six year old who loves random things like tortilla soup, and curry chicken. Don't make it an issue and it will work itself out. I just gave him the foods he liked at every meal and offered him other foods for snacks or times when I didn't care if he wouldn't eat the damn stuff. I hated having stressful dinners where we begged him to just.please.take.one.bite. You'll look back on this a year (or two, or three) from now and laugh at your obsession. I finally can.
I know others have already written this, but this is a phase. I am not promising how long, but a phase. Also, he will eat when he's hungry. Don't stress about it.
Great balls of fire, I would be so fucked if Arun started spurning Indian food because that's all we cook at home - although for whatever reason what comes from his daddy's fingers is infinitely better than his mama's. But I still worry about volume - is he getting enough? Can he really subsist on bites here and there, cupfuls of soymilk/yogurt, catfood and air alone? Apparently, he can. Sigh.
So, yeah - we are in a similar boat with the "Oh, I had that LAST week - never again, SUCKER." behavior. Bleh.
The only thing that keeps me sane is that I read somewhere to focus on the "weekly" rather than the "daily". Meaning, is your toddler eating a wide enough variety of goodies on a weekly basis?
Hershey's syrup on veggies! great idea, I will have to try that! (Our son like ketchup for his green beans.)
don't stress. Next week it'll be different.
I can also suggest V8 Fusion. "a serving of fruit AND a serving of vegetables in every cup!" I totally rely on it to make me feel like a virtuous mom.
My boy is doing the same thing (just turned 17 months). I was one who was all, "hooray, this child would eat one of the cats if I broke its legs".
The joke is on me now.
Everything he loved gets spit out, thrown at me, the dog and his father and his fork (his love is a fork, progressing from the spoon) is a fantastic projectile device.
He's getting taller and, good grief is he getting heavy, so I assume he's fine.
I did not have the patience to read what everyone above me said, so forgive me if I am repeating. My son has a very similar texture aversion to Noah's. And now at four, he still eats next to nothing. Nothing gooey, nothing wet-ish, nothing vegetable-ish. Pizza has tomato sauce. Grilled cheese has cheese. Flintstones vitamins have vitamins. I do what I can.
With my second child I was prepared to accept raising the two pickiest eaters on the planet. (He's just a little younger than Noah.) My second child? Eats everything. Sometimes I pass out and fall on the floor when he reaches out for more broccoli.
You're right about making it a thing. I made it a thing too, for a long time. Now I am tired and worn out, and I can't say I didn't try. He eats pizza, chicken nuggets (read: NOT chicken breast peices, only breaded nuggets,) waffles, peanut butter sandwiches, spaghetti, but ONLY if the sauce is mixed with the noodles and ONLY in the form of long noodles (none of this baked ziti bullshit) and only if the meatballs are actual baked meatballs, and never in the form of ground beef.
Give up. His body is programmed to not let itself starve. You'll feel better after a while, too.
My kiddo is 15 months and we had to ask the doc about it today at his appointment. My kid eats 5 things... give or take 3 or 4 things on any give day. Our doctor said just keep trying. Hmm, she has no kids :) I hear ya.
My almost-3 year old niece has no interest in meals whatsoever. She will eat, but never at meal times and rarely more than two bites so you get all excited that omg she wants to eat something! I am a miracle worker! It was my talent at preparing scrambled eggs or the way I unwrapped the cheese slice that has cured her of her food boredom, but two bites in when she changes her mind, it is devastating. I actually had to bribe her to eat a half a chocolate chip pancake. I mean what sane human being rejects a chocolate chip pancake and even after the first bite looks at you like it is such a chore and this promised gingerbread man had better be damn good?
Keep offering stuff up. My Girlie went through a similar thing years ago. Then all of a sudden out of the blue, at a holiday party she lifted her food ban. She started grabbing handfuls of food off the plates of the people sitting next to her. I was horriifed, but overjoyed at the same time.
I try to make things fun... make faces with the food or whatever, food coloring is fun for kids.
My Beastie Boy loves frozen veggies... everytime he hears the freezer open he runs... like a dog to a can opener.
1. Things he can "dip". Eggs over easy with toast, graham crackers and yogurt, broccoli and cheese sauce, chips and salsa, anything and ketchup. My kids were very tactile and LOVED anything they could dip. Satisfies that 2 year old need for independence, too.
2. Don't cave! I have a 7-year-old nephew who will ONLY eat kraft singles, cottage cheese, hot dogs or plain applesauce. Keep trying anything and everything.
Good luck!
I'm not a parent, but I am an aunt of two nieces, one of whom is just about three.
She eats sporadically. My sister just doesn't stress about it. Never has. Eh. Riley doesn't want to eat? After a couple of attempts, she shrugs, and that's it.
When Riley wants to eat? She eats. My sister doesn't haul shit out for her specially. Riley just sort of chows sometimes, and others, well, no. She drinks an ungodly amount of non-fat chocolate milk, which probably helps.
Noah will get over it. So will Riley. My six-year-old niece did. I have respect for a kid who decides when he/she wants to eat, when he/she's hungry, etc. Wish I could be as good about it. (Both kids are excellent about not eating too much, even when they looooove what's in front of them. Showoffs.)
And, by the way: Riley is about a billionth percentile in height and weight. Clearly, missing a meal ain't all that detrimental to anything.
Just roll with it, as much as you can.
I forget how old he is.. but trust me, he's not going to starve to death.. give him whatever you were planning on .. when mealtime is over, take him out of the highchair and move on.. at some point he'll be so hungry he'll eat what you give him.. i've got 3 and they are all still alive!
This doesn't count as advice, but...
My little brother was the king of the picky eaters. I think he lived on peanut butter covered waffles, chicken nuggets and the OCCASIONAL carrot for about six years. Meanwhile my sister (his twin) would drink 3 glasses of skim milk, eat one bite of whatever was on her plate and then skip merrily away.
This, too, shall pass. They are now totally healthy, well-adjusted 16 year olds who eventually learned to eat normally on their own, and Noah will too.
You're doing the best you can (said siblings STILL won't touch curry, so go Noah!) Just don't let Ceiba the Wonder Pursedog hoover up too much of what's left over, or you'll have to upgrade to a bigger Coach purse, and we all know how much of a torment that would be. :)
Our rule has always been, "taste it once and if you don't like it, you don't have to eat anymore of it." However, that doesn't mean it won't show up on their plate again when I serve it for a meal. I read once that research says it takes 21-23 exposures to a food to develop a taste for it. My 8, 10 and 11 year old are now great eaters. My 10 year old asks for escargot for her birthday! I realize Noah is young for this but when mine "cook" it, they can't wait to eat it. You're a phenomenal mom - thanks for sharing!
My almost 2 year old does the same thing. He'll eat nothing worth mentioning for a week, then one day he'll eat so much his belly feels like a tick ready to explode. Then nothing again. I offer him a supplement, like pediasure (spelling?) milkshakes every so often. He loves them, and I pretend that the nutrients in them make up for what he is missing the rest of the week.
Also, I'm 37 and there are days when I eat cornichons (tiny sour gherkin pickles) and cheese for dinner. Like, my whole dinner, and 12 ounces of the pickles, which, WTF? So. Sometimes, you just want what you want. Right? Sooner or later, he'll move on.
One word: dipping. It has saved my sanity when it comes to meals with my 21 month-old son. Make the food interactive and it will do wonders for the things they'll eat! I swear tonight I put little dabs of ketchup on every bite of squash and he gobbled it up. Good luck!
Give him what he'll eat, then when meal time is over, take it away, whether or not he's eaten it. Trust me, you'll feel guilty and your heart will break, but he will eat when he's hungry. I agree with a previous poster that it sounds more like a toddler power trip. It's worked for me with 2 kids. Good luck!
My daughter ate a PB and J and yogurt every single day (almost) her Kindergarten year. She liked about 5 things, so we stuck with those! Worked for us. Once they started having hot lunches and her friends were eating other stuff, she tried it!
Maybe when it's mealtime, let him choose something from the fridge/cabinet, but that may start a whole new set of problems.
OH MY GOSH!! I wish I could hop up and down from excitement here, because finally someone who has posted EXACTLY what I'm now going through!!!!! Oh, I bragged about how wonderful of an eater James was..still soooooorta is..and then BAM! He suddenly became very very picky in a matter of a day's difference. And now, here's the kicker- he won't drink milk. At all. Strawberry or chocolate flavoring addes..still no. So now I spend everyday going "oh no! He needs calcium! He needs more calcium!" It's driving me nuts! He used to drink milk like it was going out of style. Even the transition from formula to milk was a cinch. Now, not only is the milk an issue but he's very particular about his food. Basically, if it's not a banana (or in his words "bap") I'm screwed. Today he ate 2. LOL Oh, and I did try the Pediasure. Yeah. No luck there. Now I'm stuck with 11 bucks worth of that stuff. LOL So, basically..the only advice I can offer is to keep offering the foods to him that he used to really like. Because chances are, he'll come around and decide that he likes them again. And if that doesn't work I totally agree with the post from "Cara at 11:14pm". If he gets hungry enough he'll eat. I guess I'll have to endure that with James soon too. Good luck!!
We too went through the "I'm going to use your head as target practice and don't even think of wearing anything nice because I'm just going to chuck it at you phase." I had a moment where my boy would not eat anything. 2 weeks in fact. I mean nothing. Not yogurt, not mac n cheese nothing. I was so pissed and frustrated I resorted to a bottle. Which he also wouldn't take. So finally I started feeding him exclusively. He had all feeding himself privileges revoked. 3 weeks after that he started eating again. Magically.
We have also resorted to the dipping method for new foods and the mash it into an unrecognizable consistency (for meat) and mix it into mashed potatoes or rice. I tried giving him green beens almost 20 times before he would even try them. Now their his favorite thing. (This week at least)
Wow. Lots of advice. I have heard that there are two battles you will never ever win with kids. One is with toilet training. The other is with food. And someone up there commented already that kids are programmed to not let themselves starve. I think that's pretty sane advice. If you can live with it, try letting him eat what he'll eat and you eat what you want. Perhaps he'll see your food and think it looks good and interesting. Perhaps not. He won't die, he won't even lose weight. Have you heard "four food groups in four days"? That's a rule that makes the rounds north of the border.
A parenting guru I trust also suggests to stop snacking your child and then they will be really ready to eat when it's meal time. They'll be asking you for food.
Good luck and if you have a homemade waffle maker and he'll eat a waffle, you can sneak ALL kinds of things into the batter. just blend it up first before you cook it.
I was thinking that Wasabi Peas would pass his squish test. One of the two year olds I take care of eats them all the time- even though I find them a little strong! And they're a vegetable, so that counts! I think Whole Foods also sells those containers of freeze dried fruits and veggies- they would pass Noah's squish test, but still have nutrition.
No advice whatsoever, but "Help me, Obi-Wan Internetobi" made me spit out my own dinner!
My oldest daughter was like this. I swear she lived on noodles, chicken nuggets and hot dogs for two whole years. She'd also eat anything dipped in ranch dressing. I had a neighbor who put melted cheese on EVERYTHING her kids ate to make them eat it.
Hmm. . . things that don't squish. That is a tough order to fill though. What about very flat pizza or small frozen ravioli's since he seems to like the cold stuff.
I'd keep trying things he doesn't like now though because his tastes will change. I think I'm lucky because my second munchkin eats anything and EVERYTHING.
Just keep trying! And on the hummus front? I can't blame him for that one! ;-)
I see that a couple of other people have mentioned Ellyn Satter. Seriously I can't recommend her enough. I used to work for the health department in Austin, TX. I worked on a program designed to improve the diets of children under the age of five(a traditionally picky crowd as you well know). Of all the approaches that I researched and worked with, Ellyn Satter's strategies were hands down the best. I love her "division of responsibilities" approach to feeding. I think that she gives parents great workable strategies that help them feel much more empowered and much less guilty about their children's eating habits. www.ellynsatter.com Check it out!